The term ‘foraged food’ has become extremely trendy nowadays and you might think that it is something you have to be an expert at to be able to do for yourself.  We disagree.  You don’t have to own your own mushroom picking knife to sample some of Mother Nature’s wild and tasty treats.
This week we’re talking about something that is growing voraciously on our doorsteps (ours literally) and that is wild garlic.

If you pass by most woodland in spring, the chances are that you may catch a whiff of its scent in the wind.  It is heady and pungent and as recognisable as the traditional bulb garlic that we know and love.  It tends to cover large areas and that is why its aroma can seem overpowering.  In fact its flavour is quite mild and delicate.

When looking for wild garlic, a good place to start is an area where bluebells grow as they prefer the same conditions.  Wild garlic is a hardy fast growing perennial that begins to appear in March.  First come the drooping green leaves that form a canopy over the forest floor, then a burst of white flowers which indicate the end of its growing season. It is these two parts of the plant that are best to use.  The bulb itself is small and fiddly and quite frankly not worth bothering with.

The leaves and flowers make a great addition to salads or believe it or not an addition to cheese sandwiches.  Traditionally wild garlic has an affinity with cheese and therefore is sometimes used to wrap Cornish Yarg giving it a tangy, garlicky edge.

The flowers are best left to the salads, but the leaves can be used in any dish where traditional garlic is present.  However, treat it as a herb adding at the end of the cooking time and wilt a few leaves into your stew, casserole, stir fry, frittata, tart filling or whatever you use it for!  You can even just use it on its own sautéed with some butter and salt and pepper as an alternative to fresh spinach.

Wild garlic has a natural affinity with soups which have an earthy flavour – both coming from the land and all that.  We’ve used it in an interesting way by making a pesto with it to add to our soup this week.  This pesto can also be matched with other foods; it would be perfect with lamb or maybe a creamy past dish.

Creamy white onion and mushroom soup with wild garlic pesto

Serves 2

3 medium white onions, peeled and roughly chopped
A good handful of button mushrooms, sliced
2 vegetable stock cubes
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon Flour
50g Butter
1 pint Milk

Sweat the onions in a pan on a low heat with the butter until translucent.  Do not allow them to get any colour.  This will take approximately five minutes.
Add the mushroom and cook for a few more minutes
Add the flour and stir to coat the onion and mushrooms.  Cook for a minute or so. 
Now add the stock cubes with 1 pint boiling water and the milk and simmer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

Whizz up with a blender.  Taste to check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.

For the pesto

50g parmesan cheese, grated
50g toasted pine nuts
Olive oil to consistency (between 50ml and 100ml depending on how thick you want it to be)
Pinch of black pepper
Splash of lemon juice
Large handful of fresh wild garlic leaves

Whizz everything together in a blender until you reach the desired consistency.
Top your soup with a dollop of pesto.

There’s probably going to be some pesto leftover for you to match with another dish, so try experimenting!

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